World’s at a Crossroad laureates Interview

Please introduce your team

Our film director is Gesbeen Mohammad. She’s a multiple award-winning director and producer, whose works in recent years were focused on authoritarian regimes, human rights abuse and climate change. Among them is China Undercover, the film which investigated the Communist regime’s mass imprisonment of Muslims, and its use and testing of sophisticated surveillance technology against the Uyghur community.

I had the producer role, together with Sasha Odynova and Maria Merkulova. We worked with great cameramen Yury Mikhailovich and Artem Ignatov and several people whose names I can not mention for security reasons, but whose contribution to the film was invaluable.

I would also like to say huge thanks to our UK executive producer Esella Hawkey at Hardcash Productions and ITV’s commissioning editor Tom Giles for the opportunity to tell this story. We are grateful to Frontline PBS - Raney Aronson-Rath and Andrew Metz - for their support, helping shape the film and belief in our project.

Is there any specific reason you started to film «Putin’s war at home»?

The project started right after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. It became clear very soon after that Russia’s regime also decided to silence all the people who refused to embrace its new course.

The international attention was focused on Ukraine, and there was limited information about what was happening inside Russia after the March 4 laws passed about “fake news” and «discrediting» of the Russian army. This law and forceful closures of independent media provoked a mass exodus of journalists. It also made it much more dangerous for everyone to express anti-war sentiment in public.

With all this, we felt it was important to shed light on what’s happening to the people who were continuing to oppose the war and trying to make their compatriots aware of the grim reality of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

You must have been exposed to danger many times while you were filming the documentary. What kept you to keep film it?

The situation in Russia regarding the journalists’ freedoms changed dramatically after the war started and multiple restrictive laws were introduced. For me as a producer on the ground, it became increasingly more difficult to navigate. Something you would have considered safe before suddenly would turn out to be extremely unsafe and you would only learn it from your or your colleagues’ experience.

That said, we were still confident that keeping on with making the film was worth the risks since we believed that the people who were brave enough to confront Russia’s government narrative and put their freedom at stake deserved their stories to be told.

What would you say are the important attributes of a good video journalist?

I believe that the most important attribute of any journalist, regardless of the medium is ethics. Having a solid ethical core ensures the quality and credibility of a journalist’s work and builds trust with the audience. Journalists who stick to their ethical principles are better equipped to solve complex ethical dilemmas of the modern world and prioritize the integrity of their profession and the well-being of society.

Who is the most memorable person in your experience while you work as a video journalist?

During the years I worked as a journalist I met a great number of people I was impressed with. I’ve learned a lot from some of them, and some of them became my good friends. But the people whom I admired and respected the most were the people who had a clear vision and were ready to stand for what they thought was right no matter what the price was.

Two of the great examples of such a mindset are among Putin’s War at Home contributors. One is Olga and Elena, motivated journalists who were working in a society where their journalism was not just unwanted but prosecuted. They were covering the human cost of the war, by talking to the families of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, visiting their funerals and looking for their graves. And doing such a thing in a country where you are officially forbidden to publicly use the word «war» referring to the Ukraine Invasion essentially makes it an anti-war statement.

Another example is Sasha Skochilenko, an artist who was put in custody for replacing supermarket price tags with information about civilian casualties in Ukraine. She was charged with spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian army and is facing up to 10 years in prison.

Do you has any principles or philosophies of your own when you film stories?

I don’t see it as something extraordinary, as I believe it’s one of the fundamental principles of journalism, but I always do my best to put contributor’s safety and comfort in the first place.

As for the approach to filming I personally favour a more observational, ,fly on the wall. Kind approach to filming where possible and longer-term projects, since part of my background lies in classic documentary photography.

If you could describe your team in one word, what would it be and why?

I would say it’s ‘sustainability’. We were lucky enough to be a team that was able to deal with the most unexpected and complex situations which include but are not limited to multiple contributors dropping out due to fear of repercussions or a filming crew being secretly followed by police operatives during a shoot.

As a recipient of the Award, what significance do you think the May 18 Uprising has in the world?

The May 18 Uprising became one of the strongest symbols of people’s sacrifice, solidarity and resistance against tyranny in modern history. 40 years later, its legacy still serves as an inspiration and a reminder of the power of ordinary people in the face of oppression.

And it is now, when across the globe, we observe growing numbers of governments curtailing their citizens' fundamental freedoms in the name of the greater good, this symbol becomes more important to the world than ever.

Lastly, is there any message you want to share with the readers?

Firstly I would like to say that we are greatly honoured to receive the Hinzpeter award this year and wish to convey our sincere gratitude to everyone who played a part in the selection and decision-making process.

I would also like to wish the best of luck to all my journalist colleagues in their hard work of chasing the truth and helping society stay informed and armed against manipulations and lies.